Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Four attacks by CIA drones are believed to have targeted AQAP training camp in Yemen, killing over 30

A large number of al Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula (AQAP)
militants were killed when a series of air strikes has hit their
training camp in a remote mountainous region of southern Yemen on
Saturday and Sunday, April 19-20, 2014 – the Yemeni defense ministry
said. AQAP
has been regarded by Washington as the jihadist network’s most
dangerous affiliate. The attacks are likely targeting Al Qaeda number
two Nasir al-Wuhayshi, deliberately exposed in a recent video taken at a large gathering of terrorists in Southern Yemen.
The
operation targeting al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is under way in
Abyan and Shabwa, Yemen, a high-level Yemeni government official who is
being briefed on the strikes told CNN
on Monday (see video below). The Yemeni official described the attacks
as “massive and unprecedented”, confirming at least 30 militants have
been killed. The operation involved Yemeni commandos who are now “going
after high-level AQAP targets,” the official said.
According
to unofficial reports the April 20 attack comprised at least three
separate strikes that were directed at a terrorist training camp in
al-Mahfad, killing up to 25. On the 19 April attack ten AQAP personnel
and three civilians were also killed on another drone attack; intelligence report said they were planning attacks on civil and military targets in al-Bayda province, in southern Yemen.

The
locations of air strikes (yellow) and drone strikes (grey) in Yemen.
Radius indicates the number of killed. The red mark is the position of
the Yemeni Air Force Base at Al Anad,
allegedly providing the forward operation base for those operations. It
is also believed that since the introduction of MQ-9 Reaper drones, at
least part of the activity has moved to the more desolate Um El-Melh
border guard new airbase base built near the Saudi-Arabian-Yemeni
border, about 900 km north-east of Al Anad. Source: New America
Foundation.

Drone attacks in Yemen have killed about 40
people in Yemen since January 2014. While US drone activity in Yemen can
be dated back to 2002, the attacks have been intensified since 2012, as
the CIA increased its pressure on the Yemen-based AQAP. Yemen is among a
handful of countries where the United States acknowledges using drones,
but it does not comment on the practice. The CIA is believed to be
operating drones from two main bases in the area, the Yemeni military
air base at Al Anad, in Southern Yemen and the Saudi border guard airbase at Um El Melh
guarding the southern border of the desert kingdom’s ‘empty quarter’ –
Rub al Khali. This base is belived to have been operational since 2013. While aerial images of Al Anad
do not indicate special facilities for drones, images from Um El-Melh
show massive buildup of ground facilities for a base that can operate
numerous drones of various sizes.

Umm Al Melh Border Guards Airport (click for a larger size)

The
drone campaign in Yemen is managed by the US Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA) since 2002. The momentum of this campaign increased since
2011, particularly as the Obama administration began using drones to
support the Yemeni government’s battles against al-Qaeda-linked
militants in 2012. Without ‘boots on the ground’, this campaign suffered
relatively high rate of ‘collateral damage’ (unintended civilian
casualties) but this ration has dropped significantly in recent years
(except in 2012 when 11 civilians were killed on their way to a
wedding).
AQAP has also directed its attacks on civilian and
military targets of the Yemeni regime as well as targets thought to be
related to US operatives. In a recent attack in December 2013 a car bomb
exploded inside a hospital in the capital city Sana,
killing 52 people. The Mujahedeen claimed the attack was directed
against an operations center controlling the drones attack in the
country however, the US denied there were any American victims at the
site.AQAP has been growing in Yemen
despite the U.S. CIA and government efforts to rout the terrorist
groups from the country. In February 2014 AQAP conducted a suicide
attack on the central prison in the Yemeni capital of Sana’a.
The attack involved suicide bombers and an assault team that penetrated
the facility and freed 29 prisoners, among them 19 AQAP operatives, the
Long War Journal reported.

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Over 20 years of continuous R&D "GIZMO'S & GADGETS DEVELOPMENT" including project engineering, design, research & prototyping development in all facets of technology especially communication systems. Published Author as well.
Also known as "Q".....The Gadget Man